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Remember this?
Soon after Tony George announced the creation of the IRL to
split Indy Car racing in two, CART announced it would run the
US 500 on the same day as the Indy 500. In light of the
fact that Tony George brings his hammer to work every day to
nail CART's coffin shut, listen to what he had to say on
December 19, 1995 - IMS, IRL STATEMENT REGARDING CART EVENT ON
MAY 26, 1996 - The following response is issued for
general use and should be attributed to Tony George,
President, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is intended as the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway's and Indy Racing League's only
statement on this situation until after the holidays.
"The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League
(IRL) are aware of the announcement Monday, Dec. 18, 1995, in
Chicago by Championship Auto Racing Teams. "In response,
we can only say we are disappointed by the action because of
its negative impact on automobile racing in North America.
CART's action could diminish the opportunities for some
drivers and teams to compete in the greatest motorsports event
in the world, the Indianapolis 500. "However, it does
not change or influence any of the plans for the 1996
Indianapolis 500 or the launching of the Indy Racing League,
the series of oval track races which is designed to provide
growth and long-term stability for the sport. If anything,
CART's action underscores the need for our new league. The
80th Indianapolis 500, open to all competitors who choose to
run for racing's richest prize, will be run May 26, 1996.
"CART owners and competitors are not locked out of either the
Indianapolis 500 or the Indy Racing League. All have been
invited to participate. Our intent was that the IRL could
coexist with CART's current series of races --which has never
included the USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500. Whether by its
own rules changes or scheduling conflicts, CART has created an
unhealthy all-or-nothing choice for the racing community.
"The IRL was created for inclusion not exclusion -- and
certainly not to be in direct conflict with or to replace any
series already in existence. Toward that end, invitations to
the 1996 Indianapolis 500 remain open to those caught in the
web of Monday's announcement." Whether CART was
right or wrong for running the US 500 opposite the Indy 500,
it was clear that Mr. George, at the time, viewed there was
room for two series. To his credit, Mr. George has stuck
by his plan to be an all-oval series, leaving room for CART to
be an all-road course series. Although we have called
for CART to be an all-road course series for years, only now
it appears it finally getting that message. Perhaps if
the two series can each stick to their own specialty and not
step on each other toes, they can actually co-exist.
Though we suspect Mr. George won't put his hammer away until
CART let's go of all its ovals, which shouldn't be too hard to
do.

7/29/02

Toyota and Honda consider
breakaway F1 series
Toyota and Honda have admitted to being approached or are
looking into joining the GPWC (Grand Prix World Championship)
consortium. TMG President Ove Andersson said it had been
approached by GPWC officials about joining the group. ‘From
our side I can only answer that we are presently studying this
and there is no decision made,’ said the Swede. ‘It is very
clear. I mean, these decisions are made above my head
obviously, but I think that it is in our interests to see a
good future for the sport and I think Toyota will contribute
to this in every way we can.’ ‘I can say Honda have been
approached and now we are in the midst of gathering data to
find out what GPWC is about, what the articles are and things
like that,’ said Otmar Szafnauer, HRD (Honda Racing
Development) President. ‘We haven't come to a conclusion or
made a decision; we are in the data gathering stage just to
understand it a bit better.’

7/29/02

CART Ladder Series update
American AJ Allmendinger continued his dominating ways as he
captured his fifth victory of the 2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series
season Sunday at Concord Pacific Place during the Molson Indy
Vancouver and extended his point lead over fellow American
Marc Breuers. Brazilian Rafael Sperafico and Canadian Dan Di
Leo finished on the podium in second and third place,
respectively. American Danica Patrick, making only her third
start in the Pro Series, and Breuers rounded out the top five.
More....

7/29/02

Stewart visits Lasoski in
hospital Tony Stewart
used his afternoon off Saturday to visit Danny Lasoski in a
Mechanicsburg, Pa., hospital. Lasoski, who drives a World of
Outlaws sprint car owned by Stewart, was injured in a crash
Friday night. "Mentally he's ready to get back in the car, but
physically he's not even close," said Stewart. Lasoski is in a
tight battle with Steve Kinser for the Outlaws title. The
crash probably ends his chances of a repeat championship and
renders him doubtful for Saturday's International Race of
Champions finale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Indianapolis Star

7/29/02

BAT strikes giant deal in China
And the March to China goes on. Since BAT owns Brown and
Williamson, who sells Kool, we wonder what they think about
Mr. Kremer's recent statements regarding CART - British
American Tobacco (BAT) will invest £250 million (about $400
million USD) in the biggest foreign joint venture to produce
cigarettes in China, a company spokeswoman said yesterday. The
spokeswoman declined to say where the project would be or
whether BAT would hold a controlling stake. Its partner will
be the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA). "This
deal took two years to negotiate and needed government
approval," the spokeswoman said. "It is linked to the World
Trade Organization as part of the bigger environment and a
gradual opening of the market." China has fiercely protected
its lucrative tobacco market, allowing only a handful of
foreign-invested joint ventures, including production of Camel
cigarettes at a factory in Xiamen. The BAT project will be the
largest. The market is growing. As in previous years, tobacco
will make the largest contribution of any industry to taxation
revenue for the Ministry of Finance, which is the main reason
why the government is nervous to see any dramatic fall in the
number of smokers. In the past decade, the number of smokers
in developed countries fell 13 per cent, while in China it
rose 20 per cent, according to official estimates. Since 1993,
China has not officially imported any foreign cigarettes.
However, they are freely available, thanks to widespread
smuggling that costs the government US$1.8 billion in lost
revenue each year. Now all that will change. Maybe they'll be
selling Kool's that are made in China, in China soon.

Attention Mustang owners
Yesterday, at the annual TriState Mustang Club car show (300+
Mustangs) held at Forest Fair Mall in suburban Cincinnati,
(not too far from KY Speedway) was there pitching for cars to
attend their car show to be held on the upcoming IRL race
weekend. They said that the entrance fee was $15, and that
they would give every car entered two tickets for the IRL
race.

7/29/02Industry News

Fiat to report another big
loss, GM takeover looms
Fiat SpA, Italy's largest industrial company, will report its
third consecutive quarterly loss on Monday after car sales
plummeted, analysts said. The loss before interest and taxes
will be 174 million euros ($174 million), according to the
average forecast of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
It had an operating profit of 403 million euros in the
year-earlier period. Fiat's six-month Western European car
sales fell 21 percent, more than any other automaker as PSA
Peugeot Citroen and others won sales in Italy. Fiat shares
fell to a 10-year low on Wednesday. "Fiat Auto is a salvage
job," said Xavier Gunner, a UBS Warburg analyst. "They're
trying to keep it alive" until it's sold to General Motors
Corp. Fiat has an option to force General Motors to buy the 80
percent of Fiat Auto it doesn't already own from 2004. Fiat
has said repeatedly it plans to fix Fiat Auto by reducing
costs and increasing sales rather than sell it.
Bloomberg News

Clock ticking for Player's team
With time slowly ticking away on Imperial Tobacco's
involvement in car racing, Team Player's officials find
themselves operating in a nether region. New federal laws will
force the company out of the CART series, but Team Player's
still must prepare for one last season of open-wheel racing.
There's drivers to sign, cars to prepare. Asked if he
expects Player's to be racing in 2004, Neil Blanche shook his
head. "Right now I'd say it's 60-40 we won't be back," he
said. Read the full Canadian Press
article.

7/28/02

Fernandez OK
After the 4-car wreck with 8 laps to go in today's Molson Indy
Vancouver, Adrian Fernandez had to be extricated from
his car while the race was red-flagged. CART reported
that Adrian Fernandez suffered a large bruise and contusion on
his right hip. He will be transported to Vancouver General
Hospital for X-rays.

7/28/02

The most awesome turn on CART
circuit
A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1, The overhead shot of the
Champ Cars sliding sideways through the fast right-hand bend
on the back straight at Vancouver is awesome. I'm
surprised the announcers didn't focus on this more. It's
a testament to the skill of the champ car driver to drive
through that turn at over 150 mph with the backend hanging
out, but the announcers failed to discuss what those guys were
doing out there. And while I'm on a rant, when is CART
going to insist that street circuits be wide enough such that
you can actually race on? What I saw in Vancouver was
nothing less than a parade. Bring on Adelaide, a real
street circuit, and fire the people in CART who approve those
ridiculous narrow tracks. Jeff Tindall, West Windsor,
NJ Dear Jeff, we couldn't agree more, if CART is
going to focus on street circuits they had better get their
act together and find layouts that are wide enough to
facilitate passing. Racing isn't supposed to be a
parade. We can't remember the last time CART actually
had a pass for the lead on the track. Did they have any
this year? Somebody had better wake up.

7/28/02

Another strong crowd for CART4th UPDATE The 3-day
attendance was announced as 161,729, including 66,134 for race
day 7/28/02 - Here is the
Vancouver attendance by year:

7/27/02 - Saturday
attendance in Vancouver was announced as 50,871, bringing the
total so far for the weekend up to 95,594. Meanwhile, less
than 10,000 have been at MIS this weekend for the IRL and
NASCAR truck events and the tickets cost only $10. One reader
reports there couldn't have been 6 trailers selling
merchandise, the ticket windows looked like abandoned HUD
homes, the concessions had no business. 7/26/02 - Approximately
44,723 spectators passed through the turnstiles Friday, an
increase of 800 over the 2001 Friday total and a number just
176 fewer than the record of 44,899 established in 1998.
Similarly large crowds are expected over the next two days and
the three-day total should check in at nearly 170,000 despite
the fact that the race has been moved from its traditional
early-September date to accommodate the inaugural Shell Grand
Prix of Denver. Michigan had a few hundred people in
the stands today to watch IRL practice. 7/26/02 - While the IRL series practiced before nearly empty grandstands
at Michigan International Raceway, CART was in Vancouver and
drew a record Friday crowd, yet again. We are waiting
for final numbers, but we hear over 45,000 showed up in
Vancouver on a work day!

7/28/02

Five
teams go with Chevy program for 2003
At 4:30 p.m. on July 23, 2002, Chevrolet’s latest Chevy Indy
V8 racing engine roared to life in a dyno cell in suburban
Detroit. Chevrolet’s new Indy Racing powerplant
successfully completed its first dynamometer test, marking the
start of an intense seven-month development program leading up
to the engine’s competition debut March 2, 2003, at
Homestead-Miami Speedway. More....

Robby Gordon injured but racing
Winston Cup driver #31-Robby Gordon plans to drive Sunday's
Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway despite sustaining two
sprained ankles Saturday afternoon in a motocross incident.
Gordon sprained both ankles after jumping a hill at Traxx
Motorsports Park at Jack Frost Ski Resort on his Honda CRF450
motocross bike. He was with some members of his #31 Richard
Childress Racing team at the time and was immediately
evaluated by park physicians. Dr. Jay Golding, RCR's team
physician, evaluated Gordon Sunday morning and concurred with
the Traxx Motorsports Park physicians' diagnosis. Gordon¹s
left ankle was injured more severely than his right ankle, and
Dr. Golding plans to place an aircast on Gordon¹s left ankle
and wrap the right ankle in an ACE bandage for the 500-mile
race. Gordon's team will decide following Sunday's race
whether Gordon will still test Monday and Tuesday at Watkins
Glen (N.Y.) International
Thats Racin.com

7/28/02

Foyt wins rain shortened race
Famous names came to the front for Sunday’s rain-shorted
Michigan 100 Infinity Pro Series race at Michigan
International Speedway. When the rains came AJ Foyt IV was
leading, followed by Arie Luyendyk Jr, Aaron Fike and Ed
Carpenter (stepson of Tony George). Shortened from a scheduled
50 laps the rains came at lap 28, and the race was red-flagged
at lap 30. The race start was delayed a few laps by a
chain-reaction mishap that took out drivers Cory Witherill and
Mike Koss. Teen heartthrob Jason Priestly finished 12th after
he spun out on lap 10, flattening his tires and putting him a
lap down in the only caution of the race. A quick
informal survey of the drivers of both IPS and IRL indicated
that they enjoy their time at Michigan. Far from the angst
expressed by the CART drivers the drivers seemed to be relaxed
and happy with the facilities (and speeds) here. The crews and
families seem equally relaxed too. The IPS is definitely still
in its infancy. One of the teams this week was literally
assembling their car which they’d received on Thursday.
Tim Wohlford

Scheckter being lured by CART
teamsUPDATE As reported on
RPM2Day, Scheckter will be having dinner with two different
CART team owners this Tuesday and Wednesday night in
Indianapolis. Without question, given his apparent talent,
CART and F1 is where Scheckter belongs, where he will have a
more talented crop of drivers to measure himself against.
7/22/02 - As per this ESPN article,
Tomas Scheckter, son of former World Champion Jody Scheckter,
expects to get fired by Eddie Cheever and has received
numerous calls from CART teams to drive for them. In the
article, Scheckter more less makes fun of his slower boss
Eddie by saying - "I was approaching Eddie at a massively
quicker speed than what Eddie was doing. It's not like he gave
me the high or the low line or he let me by at all. He wasn't
hugging low completely. I was high and the problem is when you
are approaching someone, he was going 180 miles an hour and I
was running 202 mph. You can't slow down that quickly. "I
opted for the high line and he didn't give me room for the
high line. I should have known that Eddie would maybe not give
me that room. I would have thought when I saw a Red Bull car,
especially when I was lapping him, that he would give me room,
but he didn't. With Eddie, I should have braked, gone down two
gears and waited behind him, although that would have cost me
six or seven seconds. That's hindsight and I would have
thought he would have given me more room."

7/28/02

How popular is Brands Hatch?
While Brands Hatch certainly is not up to current safety
standards to host a CART race, plans to upgrade the circuit
certainly are still out there. You can catch some
motorcycle racing from Brands Hatch today at 1:00 PM EST on
SPEED Channel if you want to see what the circuit is like.
One commentator in Europe said there were between 125,000 to
150,000 people in attendance today. While that would
seem to be on the high side, it certainly bodes well for the
popularity of Brands Hatch, which is located close to London.

7/28/02

Herta to try Minardi
Bryan Herta will be at Minardi's Thunder in the Park event at
Donington in the middle of August. Herta has long said that he
would like to try Formula 1 and while the Donington event
could hardly be construed to be a test, it will nonetheless
allow Herta to feel what an F1 car is like and will perhaps
inspire him to try and get a proper test in the future. Herta
will drive a two-seater Minardi at Donington but is also
expected to get behind the wheel of a 2002 car during a pit
stop competition which will allow him a lap or two in the car.

7/28/02

Ferrari to increase staff to
800 The Ferrari
F1 team is increasing their staff to 800 (yes, you read that
right) in an all out effort to maintain its superiority over
other teams such as Toyota (who has committed to a $1 billion
3-year effort) and McLaren. Annual budgets are going to
jump to from a current level of $250 million per year to over
$300 million. Ford gave the Jaguar team 12 weeks to
become podium material or they will pull the plug on their
$168 million effort. It isn't going to happen and any
manufacturer who thinks they are going to win races in F1 over
Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, are simply throwing good money
after bad.

7/28/02

Team Menard to run Chevy's
Chevrolet officials will announce today that Team Menard has
signed to join the manufacturer in 2003. Chevy already has the
Panther, Hemelgarn and Blair teams. That's one less team
for Honda to choose from.

Shell to sponsor Danica Patrick
Shell announced it will sponsor Danica Patrick in the
remainder of her program in the 2002 Barber Dodge Pro Series.
Plans call for her to drive in upcoming Barber Dodge Pro
Series events at Mid-Ohio and Montreal (in addition to this
weekend’s Molson Indy Vancouver) and begin testing for a full
season of Toyota Atlantic racing next year.

7/27/02

ALMS and Trans-Am TV Ratings
The American LeMans Series race from Washington, D.C. got a
1.0 rating and 3 share on NBC last Sunday. It was up against
direct competition from Winston Cup on TNT and the British
Open on ABC. 1,007,000 households tuned in. The Trans-Am race
on Saturday on CBS didn't fare as well, getting a 0.6 rating
and 2 share, representing 643,000 households.

7/27/02Fran-Am

McIntosh wins first ever
Fran-Am 2000 race Vancouver, B.C.¹s Sean McIntosh
overcame adversity to collect his first career Fran-Am North
American Pro Championship race, as well as the first victory
for the new North American series, by virtue of winning
today¹s first round of the Fran-Am 2000 Championship at the
Molson Indy Vancouver. McIntosh mounted a late-race charge
following a yellow flag re-start on lap 20 to storm ahead of
polesitter Scott Jenkins, who led for the first 19 laps of
today¹s 25-lap/44.725-mile event. Galen Puccini of Team Reset
rounded out the top three after starting the race from the
third position. McIntosh¹s fate was almost sealed yesterday
afternoon in qualifying when his #24 Lordco Autoparts/Kirmac/PPG
entry sustained heavy damage after contacting the turn nine
wall while attempting to avoid a spun car. His time held for
second on the grid, however, his Phillips Motorsports crew
worked through the night to have the car ready for today¹s
race.

7/27/02

Somebody driving for a job?
Hmmm... Scheckter and Rice just posted IDENTICAL quick times
in the last practice session for tomorrow's IRL race at
Michigan International Speedway... 219.844 mph. IDENTICAL, and
both at the top of the speed charts. Somebody driving for a
job here? Tim Wohlford

7/27/02

Cheever plans more changes in
the team
"We came here with three cars which was a big, big jump from
what we have done all season with just running two cars. Tomas
was perfect in qualifying, and Buddy, in his first race
weekend, almost got the pole. As a team we're very proud. The
mechanics did a good job getting all of these cars ready.
Tomorrow we plan to do our best. I will continue making
changes in the team until we start achieving the race finishes
that we have to deliver for Red Bull. So far the experiment is
working."

Allmendinger keeps pole in
Vancouver A.J. Allmendinger will lead the field to the
green flag in Sunday's Barber Dodge Pro Series race after
securing the pole in Friday's provisional qualifying session
and holding onto the top spot after Saturday's cooler track
conditions prevented times from dropping below those set on
Friday. Marc Breuers, who was second quick in Friday's
qualifying session, was fastest in the second qualifying
session with a lap of 1:15.661 and will take one championship
point for the effort. Starting behind Allmendinger and Breuers
will be Julio Campos and Christian Szymczak in the second row,
while Rafael Sperafico and Memo Rojas will take the green from
the third row. Row four will see the fields highest qualifying
Canadian, Dan Di Leo, start next to Leo Maia in his Quaker
State-liveried machine, while Danica Patrick will make her
first start from the top ten alongside of Cleveland round
winner Davy Cook, who improved his time over Friday's
qualifying session to knock himself into the top ten.

CART announces 2003 Toronto and
Vancouver schedule After more than a decade of
holding some of the most successful sporting events on the
Canadian calendar, the CART FedEx Championship Series
announced Saturday that it would return to hold Molson Indy
events in Toronto and Vancouver in 2003. At a media conference
today at the Molson Indy Vancouver, CART President Christopher
R. Pook announced the 2003 dates for the two race events along
with Molstar Sports & Entertainment Vice-President Bob
Singleton and Molson Indy Vancouver General Manager Stuart
Ballantyne. "Our Canadian events hold a valued place on our
schedule as the fans have always supported our races in great
numbers," said CART President and CEO Christopher R. Pook. "We
are pleased to be able to announce these dates in a timely
manner, which will allow the event organizers ample time to
prepare for their events." The Toronto event will move one
week later in the month from this year's date to the weekend
of July 11-13 while the Molson Indy Vancouver will again take
place on the last weekend of July as it does this season with
the race weekend scheduled for July 25-27. "The 2003
announcement confirms Molson's commitment to CART as well as
CART's commitment to Molson Canada," stated Singleton. "We are
thrilled to be back on our original Molson Indy weekend in
Toronto which will make all of our fans happy." "The
change to a July date for 2002 has been a very successful one
for us," said Ballantyne. "Attendance figures are up this year
and we look forward to having the Molson Indy Vancouver
continue on the same weekend in 2003." Eighteen years of CART
racing in Canada will continue in 2003 as the Molson Indy
events attract more spectators and television viewers than any
other three-day event in the country. The races in Toronto and
Vancouver are two of Canada's largest and most popular
sporting events with the combined attendance for the two races
in 2001 reaching an all-time record of 330,000 making a large
economic impact in both cities. The third Canadian event on
the CART schedule, the Molson Indy Montreal, will also return
to the schedule in 2003 and race dates for that event and the
remainder of the races on next year's schedule will be
announced soon.

7/27/02

Tentative 2003 20-race CART
Schedule - UPDATE We have
republished the 2003 schedule as given to the CART team owners
for consideration with one change, Eurospeedway is off the
schedule and the event is listed as TBD. We keep hearing
whispers about Italy, but can't say anymore at this time.
7/12/02 - as presented to team owners for consideration

Tracy fast in morning practice
Provisional polesitter Paul Tracy paced the Saturday morning
practice session for Sunday's Molson Indy Vancouver at Concord
Pacific Place. The race is Round 10 of the 2002 CART FedEx
Championship Series. Driving the KOOL Honda/Lola, Tracy had a
top lap of 60.778 seconds, good for an average speed of
105.492 miles per hour. Points leader Cristiano da Matta was
second fastest in the Chevron Toyota/Lola and Michael Andretti
was third in the Motorola Honda/Lola.

7/27/02

Scheckter odd man out at Team
Cheever TOMAS SCHECKTER "We came into this
qualifying with a little bit of a disadvantage. A lot of the
performance parts that were on my car prior to this race were
not on my car anymore. We've dealt with it good [Editor's
Note: in other words the team has taken the special pieces
away from Scheckter to slow him down and not embarrass his
boss how much faster he is, and he still beat him]. I've
got a setup on my car that was pretty hard to drive, and we
managed to pull it off. I'm very happy for my substitute team
that have come in [Editor's Note: now Scheckter is pushed to
the third driver on the team with crew members hired off the
street]. They've done a good job, but maybe instead of doing a
(2)21.8 (mph), I could have done a (2)22.8 (mph). That's the
way it goes. Tomorrow, hopefully we can carry on the same way
we've done today. It's great for them, as well. I can feel the
atmosphere around us. It feels like sort of we've been pushed
to the underdog team and to get it together and do it was
great for everybody. But again, today's today, and tomorrow's
tomorrow. And if you think I went quick today, you're going to
see something else tomorrow." (How do you deal with the
tension in the team?): "I deal with it by putting it on pole.
It has good job. He's got nothing to do with what's happened."
(Is your situation race-by-race?): "I'm not sure. After the
last race, you have to read in the press that he's (Cheever)
looking for a new driver. It's disappointing for me that you
have to read this sort of stuff in the press. I'm taking it
race by race, you know. It depends what he says in the press
tomorrow or the next day. Maybe he'll get rid of me that way,
fire me in the press. I'm not sure. It's tough. It's been a
tough situation. There's been a lot of things said in the
press that have hurt me and the team, as well. But you have to
come back. I'm a professional, and like I do, I've got to sit
in those meetings. I say what happens with the car. We all sit
down, and you have to be professional at the end of the day.
I'm going to do the best job I can do for Red Bull, for
Infiniti, and for Team Cheever." (What is the atmosphere in
the trailer doing your debriefs?"): "The atmosphere is fine. I
suppose I'm not as talkative or as in detail as I used to hey
do it twice, I don't accept it. I think that should be the
same as a driver. At Nashville, we have to say 'What
happened?' and how can we make sure it doesn't happen again.
If we are getting lapped, any of the Red Bull cars, which way
should you go. You need to arrange it so that the team knows
what's going on, and if the person is in the lead and someone
is getting lapped, the person in front should sacrifice so
that the leader can get by and get the job done." (Have you
talked to your team owner about the tense situation?): "I'd
expect my team owner, as a team owner, to be the one to call
me and speak to me about it, to be the mature one. I'm willing
to sit down and speak with him, but that phone call hasn't
come, so I just get on with my job."

7/27/02

Is it about talent or the show? ARIE LUYENDYK “The cars are quite easy
to drive around here with the downforce that we have. So from
that point, it’s not hard to get back in and get back up (to
speed). After a few laps in practice yesterday, I was flat
out, but we just didn’t have the horsepower in that
engine. We changed engines overnight. We picked up, basically,
nearly 6 mph, just with the engine.......... I think in the
front you’ll see the Infiniti cars. They will be able to maybe
pull away from the rest. They’ll maybe have a couple of the
Chevy guys that have the extra bits in their engine go along
because it’s really all about horsepower right now.”
JEFF WARD “It was pretty bad. We just can’t get any
power out of the motor to run by ourselves. It’s trimmed out
and everything (all drag) is as off the car as we could (get
it). BUDDY LAZIER “We want to do well because this
is (team owner) Ron’s (Hemelgarn) home track, but we also want
to do well for ourselves. We don’t go racing to do anything
but to win. That’s why we go racing. This is the fastest the
car would go, just flat out. GREG RAY “The car ran
a 214 (mph) and ran great. We just hit a wall and couldn’t go
any faster. I don’t know what is wrong with the car. It
handles good, but it’s just slow” (In other words it's all
about HP and Ray doesn't have enough)

7/27/02

Alex Yoong fails to qualify
again It would appear that Alex Yoong's f1 days are
numbered - Yoong will watch Sunday's German Grand Prix from
the sidelines after failing to qualify for his third race this
season. The Malaysian missed out on Sunday's race by just two
tenths of a second and was a little unsure why. "To be frank,
I'm as puzzled as everyone else why we were so slow today,"
said Yoong, who also missed out in the San Marino and British
GPs. "I'm obviously very disappointed at the moment, not just
for myself, but for the whole team, who did a very good job
and put in a lot of hard work. "It's been a hugely
disappointing day, as this is not a circuit I expected
qualifying to be an issue, especially after yesterday went so
well," he continued. "We were quick without event trying then
on old tires. Unfortunately, in the morning session today, we
didn't get the chance to use new tires because we had a
hydraulic problem, so the first time I used new tires was in
the qualifying session. Yoong's team mate Mark Webber
qualified on the back row for the race with a time of
1m17.996s, which he felt was about as much as he could get
from the car.

7/27/02

Champ Cars overweight,
underpowered and not enough downforce In this
AutoRacing1.com article,
Anthony Davidson has this to say about the current Champ Car
vs. his experience with F1 cars - "It was fun! Its quite a lot
slower on acceleration in a straight line than the F1 car (in
other words overweight and underpowered) and they have less
downforce (in other words they need more downforce CART) but
they are still really exciting to drive. It was good to get
back to doing manual gear changes again too." "The feeling a Champ car gives you is very similar to a Formula
Ford. When the back end breaks away it does so quite slowly.
The slide is gradual and predictable and you can feel the car
moving around. It had a nice balance and you can feel the
wings working beneath you. Thinking about it the Champ car is
a combined mixture of Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 1,
probably more so Formula 3, bearing in mind that the Lola is a
mass produced production car.
The slick tires visually make the car look a lot wider than a
Formula 1 and the wheelbase is longer. I found that I was able
to jump into the car and I felt at home straight away. I was
able to left-foot brake without any problems. You do need to
be very aggressive with the car and I found that the more you
work on what needs to be done, the quicker you go. In Formula
1 for example a little more finesse is needed and you cannot
be quite as aggressive. The brakes though are very impressive.
To be honest there was no real difference between the Lola and
the BAR. The steel brakes were the closest comparison to F1
and were very good."

7/27/02

Davidson calls Road America
awesome In this
AutoRacing1.com article,
Anthony Davidson has this to say about Road America after his
recent test there in the Team Kool Green Champ Car - "I did 50 laps in
Dario's car, and was happy with my 1.43.9 at the end of the
day as several established guys were actually behind me. The
team were great, very helpful and I enjoyed my time in the
States. The track was awesome; better than anything I've
driven in Europe." "Road America is a big track. It is
over 4-miles long and feels very European to me, probably a
bit like a lengthened Brands Hatch GP track, or Spa (Franchorchamps).
The track was so much fun to drive on that I never wanted it
to end. There are a lot of nice parts, with flat out corners,
places where you have to give slight lifts, and so on."

7/27/02Industry News

Motorola shares sink when Exec
departs Shares in Motorola plunged 11 percent on
Friday after the company's No. 2 executive, Edward Breen, was
named chief executive of Tyco International. Investors showed
skepticism that Motorola's chief executive, Christopher
Galvin, and Breen's successor as president and chief operating
officer, Mike Zafirovski, could carry out a viable
restructuring plan and return Motorola to profitability.
Breen, who had come to Motorola in 2000 through the
acquisition of General Instrument, the supplier of cable
television equipment where he was chairman and chief
executive, was widely seen as the force behind a broad
cost-cutting effort that had allowed Motorola to perform
better than many of its peers in the weak telecommunications
industry. ``One of the primary reasons we held optimism for a
Motorola turnaround was the no-nonsense, results-oriented
style that Mr. Breen brought to the company,'' Mark Roberts,
an analyst at Wachovia Securities, said in a report. ``We view
Mr. Breen's departure as a negative for Motorola.'' NY
Times

7/27/02Fran-Am

Jenkins wins first ever Fran-Am
2000 pole Scott Jenkins of Portland, Oregon today
goes down in the record books as the first pole winner of the
Fran-Am 2000 Championship by virtue of setting the fastest lap
in qualifying for tomorrow¹s inaugural North American Fran-Am
race at the Molson Indy Vancouver. Jenkins, driving the #11
Gelles Racing/EFI Inc/AGG Inc entry, set a time of 1:19.371 to
edge out Vancouver¹s Sean McIntosh, who made contact with the
turn nine wall while trying to avoid the spun car of Galen
Puccini. Puccini rebounded to set the third fastest time of
1:21.010. Scott Robertson of Calgary qualified fourth
with a time of 1:21.183 followed by Aaron Ellis in fifth
(1:21.886) and John Puccini in sixth (1:22.551). Trent Lewis,
who is McIntosh¹s Phillips Motorsports¹ teammate, rounds out
the top eight.

7/27/02

Silverstone 2003 date secure
Max Mosley says that Britain's Formula One event is safe
following success with traffic management this year, and a
July 20th date has been agreed for the 2003 British Grand
Prix, although 2002 was compared to a 'country fair' by Bernie
Ecclestone. Meanwhile, with news that Bahrain has secured a
slot for an 18th race on the 2004 Formula One calendar,
Russia, China, Turkey and Egypt have all enjoined the bidding
to stage a Grand Prix in the hope of joining Bahrain on the
calendar. But there appear to be no open dates on the calendar
as all current circuits, except Imola, have long-term
contracts to stage races. One would think, therefore,
that Imola is in the most danger of losing their race.

7/27/02

Frank Williams continues
Montoya praise Sir Frank Williams has continued the
line that Juan Pablo Montoya is the class of the Grove-based
team in 2002. Speaking at Hockenheim yesterday, the Briton
said that 'Definitely he's prepared to explore the limit even
more closely than Ralf is. He really does go to extremes.'

7/27/02F3000

Pantano gets pole At
an overcast Hockenheim circuit yesterday, Giorgio Pantano
netted pole position for today's Formula 3000 contest. Closely
followed by Czech driver Tomas Enge and his Arden Team Russia
cohort Bjorn Wirdheim, series leader Sebastien Bourdais will
start the race from fourth place. The Frenchman leads Enge by
just five points in the title chase.

Toyota nixes Jordan overtures
Jordan is set to lose their Honda engine supply and it was
confirmed Eddie Jordan has asked Toyota to provide engines
next season. The Japanese company are closely linked with
British American Racing and have long been rumored to be ready
to ditch Jordan in favor of DBAR. Toyota team boss Ove
Andersson confirmed he had been approached by Jordan as the
Silverstone-based outfit search for next season's power units
- but turned down the chance to supply another team. Andersson
said: "There is absolutely no agreement and we have no plans
to supply engines to any other team at the moment. "To think
about supplying another team with engines at this moment in
time is definitely not in our plans."

CART Friday Night
The Molson Indy Vancouver usually has just as much action off
the track as it does on it, and SPEED Channel will capture a
portion of the off-track festivities of the CART FedEx
Championship Series live with its CART Friday Night show.
SPEED Channel will be live at the Drivers VIP Party Friday in
Vancouver for the CART Friday Night show, which airs from
10:30-11:00 p.m. on the cable network. The event will be
hosted by Derek Daly with Tommy Kendall conducting interviews
with some of the drivers and dignitaries on hand. CART stars
Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan and Oriol Servia are scheduled to
appear on the show, along with Toyota Atlantic drivers Jon
Fogarty, Michael Valiante and Jonathan Macri. The Atlantic
drivers are on hand as part of CART's Mentor System, and the
loquacious Kendall will be on hand to make sure that the
aspiring drivers learn the ropes of the off-track functions as
well.

7/26/02

Hakkinen quits for good
Mika Hakkinen has confirmed that he will not return to F1 and
will instead retire from motor racing. The announcement was
made in Hockenheim and was followed by McLaren confirming that
its driver line up for 2003 will be David Coulthard and Kimi
Raikkonen. "I wanted to spend time with Erja and watch Hugo
growing," said Hakkinen. "To be able to watch him learn to
crawl and walk and start to talk is time you can't get back
again. And I didn't want to hurt myself. I have been through a
lot, particularly in 1995, and I have received so much that I
thought it was not worth pushing my luck any further."
Full Story

7/26/02

GM trying to steal Andretti
from Honda
Read this Autosport
Q & A with Michael Andretti - Q: Could Honda influence
your decision? A.: "Honda is very aggressive. But having said
that, we've been in real strong talks with the other
manufacturers as well, including GM, who would really like to
be associated with us. We have nothing done now on that side."

7/26/02

CART may drop all ovals
Duh, how long have we been saying this? There are some
interesting quotes in this
article, including - The idea has been under
discussion with CART team owners for some time, Pook said in
an interview later. "I wouldn't put any likelihoods on it
right now," he said. "I'm just telling you that for our guys
oval racing is very expensive."......Bobby Rahal said axing
ovals, especially the ultra-fast super speedways, would help
cut team costs sharply, both in specialized parts and in crash
damages.

7/26/02

Davidson stands by
BAR test driver Anthony Davidson is standing by to replace
Giancarlo Fisichella if the Italian feels that he is unable to
compete in this weekend’s German GP. Davidson had a
seat-fitting with Jordan earlier this week and could make his
F1 debut if Fisichella decides to miss Sunday’s race.

7/26/02

Arrows definitely will race
Contrary to some internet reports that only one Arrows
transporter resides the Hockenheim paddock, our source at the
circuit has confirmed that three transporters, an Orange-clad
motorhome and all Arrows staff are ready for German Grand Prix
action. Furthermore, Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi told 'our
man' that 'We are definitely going to race. I'm pretty sure I
can say definitely now.' That's about as 'definite' as you're
going to get in the dynamic world of Formula One, anyway.

Paul Tracy & Tony Stewart
A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com - About the "rumor" that
Paul Tracy is considering NASCAR. With his outspoken nature
his car would never pass inspection! How about Paul and
Tony Stewart on the same team. Wouldn't that be
something to shake the NASCAR tree! I'm not a big
"NAPCAR" fan but it would be worth watching to hear Tracy call
Gary Nelson or Mike Helton a "circus clown" (as he has done to
the CART Chief Steward on at least one occasion on national
TV). Mike Jablo

7/26/02

Miami press conference feedback
After Wednesday's Miami media event, a reader writers to say
"every TV station in Miami had a positive report on the race
that evening.....except the Fox Affiliate which showed a tape
of an IRL car driving on the causeway from a media event the
IRL had last year. I guess those guys don't know the
difference between CART and IRL. Or do they? Hard to trust
those ISC/IRL Guys!" We understand the new
president/general manager of the race, Chuck Martinez, came in
on his first day (Monday) and lit a fire under everybody's
butt. They haven't stopped for a break since. They are
getting a bit of a late start on promoting this race, but it's
going to be the event everyone in the Miami area wants to go
to each year. Certainly more so than the NASCAR or IRL
race in Homestead which offers nothing in the way of
atmosphere or nightlife.

7/25/02USAC

Another oval victim, Jack
Hewitt upgraded
Jack Hewitt has been upgraded to serious but stable condition
at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after suffering a neck
injury in an accident during a USAC Stoops Freightliner Sprint
Car race July 22 at North Vernon, Ind. Hewitt is conscious and
talking to family members and doctors and is responding to all
treatment. Was he wearing a HANS Device?

7/25/02

Washington DC race hailed as a
success
Nearly 80 years had passed since automobile racing had graced
the Nation's Capital, but the American Le Mans Series led what
is being universally hailed as a triumphant return of
motorsports to Washington in last weekend's Cadillac Grand
Prix of Washington, D.C. More....

7/25/02Grand-Am

Toyota jumps into Grand-Am With an
announcement today by Toyota Racing Development (TRD), the
list of engines being made available to power Daytona
Prototypes next year now extends to manufacturers from around
the globe. According to a press release issued earlier today,
Toyota Racing Development (TRD), U.S.A. will submit a
4.3-liter V8 engine for approval to compete in the Daytona
Prototype class of the Rolex Sports Car Series beginning in
2003. The Toyota Daytona Prototype V8 engine will be based on
the 4.3-liter, four-cam, 32-valve powerplant that is currently
utilized in production models sold in North America. "We have
already approved engines from Ford, BMW and Porsche," Grand
American Road Racing President Roger Edmondson commented. "We
are working closely with suppliers of other engines including
Chrysler, GM and Maserati on approval of those motors. With
Toyota's racing history and heritage, we are very pleased to
hear they will be participating in this program," he added.
"We believe that Grand-Am has created a unique vision for an
American-based sports prototype series," said Jim Aust,
president and CEO of TRD, U.S.A. "TRD is always interested in
potential business opportunities that expand its presence in
U.S. motorsports. Our goal will be to offer Daytona Prototype
teams a competitive engine at a competitive price."

Benson's back
Johnny Benson (No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac) is set to resume
racing this week. He has been sidelined since a July 6
accident in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway,
when he suffered three broken ribs. Mike Wallace substituted
for Benson at Chicago and Jerry Nadeau subbed at New
Hampshire. Sunday will mark the second time this season that
Pocono will serve as a "comeback" track for Benson. He missed
three races after a May 3 accident in a NASCAR Busch Series
race at Richmond where he suffered two cracked ribs and one
broken rib; Benson made his return at Pocono on June 9,
finishing 20th. "I'm not rushing. I'm ready to get back in the
race car. You are always going to have people questioning
whether it is too early or not. But, health-wise I'm ahead of
where I was last time when I got back in the car. I don't
think my health will be an issue this weekend. We aren't even
going to have a back-up driver."

7/25/02

Michael wants father Mario
involved with his team In this Allentown Morning
Call
article, Michael Andretti says - ''I have kept him in
the loop on everything,'' Michael said of Mario, an outspoken
critic of the IRL and supporter of CART. Mario Andretti told
the Associated Press' Mike Harris that he might make a deal
with CART owner Carl Haas. ''He sort of sideswiped me with his
announcement,'' Michael Andretti said. ''His deal has not gone
anywhere; basically, it was a conversation between him and
Carl. Chris (Pook) made sure Mike called dad. It was
propaganda for CART. I would like dad to be involved with
Andretti Green Racing.'' This might get interesting, but
you can bet that if Mario is involved with Michael, he will
push for the team to continue to race in CART. The Andretti
name certainly will help the old Team Green company (now
Andretti Green Racing) to secure more sponsorship.

7/25/02

Another management change at
Lola Howard Dawson has been appointed interim Chief
Executive of the Lola group of companies with immediate
effect, taking over from David Bowes who is resigning from the
company as at the end of August to take up another role. A
replacement will be appointed in due course. Dawson, 42, is
already a director of Lola and Joint Managing Director of Peer
Group plc, Martin Birrane’s London-based property company.
Already known to many in motor sport because of his
Directorship at Mondello Park International Racing Circuit in
Ireland, Dawson is also on the Board of BMP, the company which
promotes race meetings and championships, including the BTCC,
F3 and British GT at all the UK’s top circuits. Dawson joins
the Lola group as it completes its integration of composites
company, CTS Limited, and is entering the Formula Three
market."

7/25/02

Jourdain on RPM2Night Team
Rahal driver Michel Jourdain Jr. (#9 Gigante
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) will be featured along with
Roush Racing's NASCAR Craftsman Truck driver Jon Wood on
ESPN's RPM2Night on Thursday as the two drivers take fans on a
trip to discover Ford race machines of the past, as well as to
look at some of the marque's future offerings. Jourdain, who
is in the midst of the best of his seven seasons in the CART
FedEx Championship Series, joined the up-and-coming Wood on a
trip through the famed Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan
on Wednesday to see the myriad of classic Ford racers on
display. The two drivers will be featured in a series of
segments to air on the ESPN nightly racing show in the coming
weeks, the first of which comes tonight (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.
Eastern Time) where the two drivers take a look at the new
version of the timeless GT40 racer. The two drivers were
guided through the display and given background information
and stories by the museum's transportation curator Bob Casey.
The Dearborn museum has a number of venerable Ford racers on
display, including the 1901 machine with which Henry Ford beat
Alexander Winton in the famed match race that allowed Ford to
start the company that bears his name. Jourdain spent
Wednesday in the Michigan city before heading to Vancouver
where he will compete in this weekend's Molson Indy Vancouver
(SPEED Channel, Sunday 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time)

CART 2nd Quarter Financial
StatementUPDATE
Chris Pook also stated on the investor conference call 1) He
did not think Michael Andretti buying into Team Green would be
a blow to CART. "It is our intent to keep two cars of Team
Green (now Andretti Green Racing) in our series." 2) The 2003
schedule would be released next week and would include a
Chicago race in May, though it may appear on the schedule as a
tentative; 3) He was hopeful the series next year would have
more than the 18 cars currently participating, maybe 23 "if
they're solid." 7/24/02 - Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc.
(NYSE: MPH) (CART) today announced financial results for its
second quarter ended June 30, 2002. The number of events held
in a particular quarter affects the comparability of earnings
information from quarter to quarter. CART conducted six events
in the second quarter of 2002 and 2001. Indy Lights, which was
discontinued for 2002, conducted four races in the second
quarter of 2001. Toyota Atlantics conducted five races in the
second quarter of 2002, compared to four races in the
prior-year period. More...

7/24/02

Mario the artist!
Mario Andretti will be at the Andretti Winery from 1:00 pm
until 3:30 pm on Monday, July 29 participating in a unique
project called "The Art of the Appliance.” Created by Best
Buy, this project involves celebrities from the worlds of
music, film and sports painting original designs directly onto
a Best Buy appliance – then auctioned on EBay sometime in
October with proceeds going to charity. The designs will also
be reproduced in poster format and will be given away as a
gift with purchase in Best Buy stores. Guests at the Andretti
Winery the afternoon of July 29 can watch Mario paint a
refrigerator (with the help of an artist, of course). Behind
the scenes video and a photo shoot will also take place. This
is a fun afternoon. Spectators are welcome. The Andretti
Winery is located at 4162 Big Ranch Road in Napa, California.
No other celebrities participating in “The Art of the
Appliance” will be at the Andretti Winery. Individuals have
studio time planned in their own favorite environment and to
suit their personal schedules.

7/24/02

Condolences to Shanaman family
AutoRacing1.com would like to extend our condolences to CART's
Rena Shanaman and her family, whose mother passed away over
the weekend. The funeral was held today.

7/24/02

Noise threatens 2003 Washington
DC race According
to this Washington Post
article, Washington's inaugural Grand Prix auto race
roared to a close yesterday evening, with organizers hailing
it as a success but the District's chief regulator saying he
will explore shutting down next year's event because of
excessive noise. Tests conducted yesterday by the D.C.
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs showed that the
roar generated by high-powered cars racing around the track on
the grounds of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium measured
100.4 to 105 decibels in the adjacent neighborhood, far
exceeding the 60-decibel limit permitted in residential areas.
That's what you get with normally aspirated race cars.
They had better get used to it.

7/24/02

Montoya has all but destroyed
Ralf Speaking to Motorsport News, Frank Williams
said: "We’d like Ralf Schumacher to be quicker, so you could
say we’re concerned about his performance. Some days he’s
brilliant, some days he can’t put his hand on the button that
makes the car perfect. "I’d say he’s presently in a bit of a
dip. Ralf’s performances are being colored a bit by his
equipment, but we need him to assert himself." Williams also
hinted that Montoya’s current form was having a damaging
effect on Schumacher’s confidence. He added: "It’s quite
obvious that he’s under pressure from Juan Pablo (who has won
five straight poles in a row)."

7/24/02

CART practice and qualifying TV
Ratings = IRL race ratingsUPDATE The IRL supposedly
received a 0.5 overnight TV rating for their Nashville race.
Last year the race drew a 0.55 overnight, so this year it is
down almost 10% What's that about the IRL growing and
sponsor value? 7/23/02 - SPEED Channel was happy with ratings numbers for the CART
event in Cleveland, where the network recorded ratings of 0.3
and 0.44 for its live coverage of practice and qualifying (the
race was shown on CBS and had a final rating of 1.1)... SPEED
Channel now is in more than 52 million homes in the United
States, up nearly 16 million from last year and up nearly
double since the spring of 2000. We have not heard the
official TV Rating for IRL's race on ESPN2 at Nashville
on Saturday night, but we hear it's not too different than
what CART got for practice and qualifying in Cleveland, i.e.
well below 1.0.

7/24/02

FIA warns Arrows The
FIA has warned the Arrows team not to pull the same stunt as
they did in France last weekend. If the team once again
deliberately fails to qualify, the FIA will take action. If
they show up they are expected to race as well. The FIA has
clearly stated that it will not tolerate a charade as in
France a week ago. At Magny-Cours Arrows only drove eight laps
throughout the weekend and failed to attempt to qualify for
the race on Sunday. The team did, however, avoid a fine for
not participating.

7/24/02

Shell signs on as title sponsor
for Denver raceUPDATE Here is the
official press release.
Shell plans to be the only gasoline retailer in all fifty
states as the conversion of the majority of 13,000 Texaco
locations is scheduled for completion before June 2004. The
Denver and Colorado Springs markets will convert this fall.
7/23/02 - Where's the AP article now? To their credit - read it
here. Shell Oil will be the title sponsor for
the new Grand Prix of Denver auto race - an accord one sports
marketing expert termed "a match made in heaven." Tim O'Leary,
a spokesman for Houston-based Shell Oil Products US, confirmed
late Monday that the Labor Day weekend event will be called
the Shell Grand Prix of Denver. But he said he was not
aware of the financial terms or the length of the sponsorship.
John Frew, the Grand Prix's vice president and general
manager, denied a pact had been made with the petroleum giant
when he was contacted earlier Monday. A lead sponsor of a
Championship Auto Racing Teams - or CART - race would
typically pay $300,000 to $500,000 a year over several years,
experts have said. Jim Michaelian, president of Grand Prix
Association of Long Beach, Calif., one of the race's
organizers, has said he expected a title sponsor to sign a
three- to five-year deal. The lead sponsorship is a perfect
fit for Shell, O'Leary said, because the company is in the
process of converting Texaco-branded gas stations in Colorado
to the Shell name and wants to improve its brand awareness.
Denver sports marketing consultant Dean Bonham agreed. "This
is just a match made in heaven, and none too soon," because
the race is six weeks away, said Bonham, who writes a regular
column for the Rocky Mountain News. "Positive image
association is always a premier condition (for a title
sponsorship)," he said. "Shell has an extraordinary
reputation, and it has been around motorsports for years."
"Just as an outsider looking in, this doesn't happen very
often -- where you (grab) a high-level sponsorship so close to
the event," he said.Grand Prix of Denver sponsors
• Shell Oil
• AT&T Broadband
• Colorado Central Station Casino
• Coors
• FedEx
• Gehl
• Hyatt Regency Denver
• Denver Newspaper Agency
• Six Flags Elitch Gardens
• Snap-On Tools
• St. Anthony Hospitals
Rocky Mountain News

7/24/02

Pruett to drive for Ganassi
Scott Pruett will run a third Ganassi entry at Watkins Glen.

7/24/02

CART working hard to keep Kool
In this Toronto Sun
article, CART's Adam Saal says, "It's up to us to
present Michael Andretti with a solid marketing platform for
our series that he can give his sponsors," Saal said. "That's
our job one -- keep this team with us." Andretti said that
Brown & Williamson, the tobacco giant that is the primary
sponsor of the team, is planning its 2003 budget and should
have answers by the end of August on how and where it wants
its money spent.

7/24/02

As CART heads to Vancouver,
more negative media Do you see the pattern yet?
Negative stories about CART by the local at every race venue
the week prior to the during the event. They are not
writing about the racing, but about "CART dying." Here is a
Vancouver Sun
article that continues that trend, though to their
credit, the article reaches some balance in that it talks
about what positive CART has going for it.

7/24/02

CART stock watch

MPH closed at $7.20 Down $0.27 on
volume of 105,700 shares.
$6.56 Bid - $7.52 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $6.90/$7.50
MPH Value Change Down 3.61%
DOW Jones Up 488.95 or 6.35% on Volume of 3.2+ billion shares.
A NEW Single Day Volume Record!
Fourth straight day of volume in excess of 2 billion shares.
NASDAQ Up 60.96 or 4.96%
S&P 500 Up 45.69 or 5.73%Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/24/02

Turkey targets 2005 for a F1
race According to this Daily F1
article, Turkey has taken a significant step towards
hosting Formula One in 2005 after the Turkish Ministry Council
accepted a proposal by Mumtaz Tahincioglu, President of the
Turkish Automobile and Motorsports Federation. Tahincioglu
said after the briefing this week that the Council accepted
the “necessities” of the plan set by the Turkish Automobile
and Motorsports Federation, and had agreed to provide terrain
for circuit construction, $13.5 million for the running of
each race and $27 million for initial organizational funding.
Tahincioglu said the final obstacle was signing a deal with F1
Boss Bernie Ecclestone. ‘Formula One will be held in Turkey in
2005,’ Tahincioglu said. ‘We will introduce the project to
Ecclestone who is the last signature.’ It is unclear which
Turkish city will host the race but the Ministry Council has a
short list of candidates including Istanbul, Izmir, and
Antalya. It is understood Kirsehir is also bidding for the
right to host.

Green says Indy 500 case not
closed yet According to this Indy Star
article, In Barry Green's mind, the Indianapolis 500
isn't over until he says it's over. And he's not ready to say
that. Media were admonished before Tuesday's news conference
announcing Green's sale of the team to Michael Andretti that
questions about the failed protest and appeal of the
Indianapolis 500 were off-limits. But afterward, Green said he
still is weighing whether to pursue his case in court. "I have
a lot of attorneys who do not believe I should give up," he
said. "I have not made up my mind what I'm going to do." Green
said he still has a "sour taste" from the May 26 race, but it
was not a factor in his decision to sell the team. That deal
largely was complete in April, he said.

7/23/02

SPEED Channel adds more NASCAR
programming Beginning this Sunday, July 28, SPEED
Channel will be the exclusive provider of NASCAR Victory Lane.
The series will air on Sundays at 8 PM ET, with Thursday
replays at 5:30 PM ET. SPEED Channel has added three live
NASCAR events to its broadcast schedule -- Winston Cup
qualifying from Talladega at 4 PM ET on Oct. 4, Winston Cup
Happy Hour from Talladega at noon (ET) on Oct. 5 and Winston
Cup qualifying from Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. at
7 PM ET on Oct. 10.

7/23/02

Nadeau to drive #44 Petty car
Jerry Nadeau, who nearly pulled out an incredible race victory
less than a month ago at Sears Point, Calif., will drive the
#44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge for Petty Enterprises the rest of
this season. In Nadeau's only other start in the car, he came
within just a few laps at winning the California event, a
drive-train problem sidelining him from a near five-second
lead two laps from the end. "We're doing everything we can and
making any changes we need to make to bring Petty Enterprises
back at the forefront of NASCAR racing," said Kyle Petty, CEO
of Petty Enterprises. "This is another step in that direction.
"We all saw what Jerry did at Sears Point but that is the kind
of racing he has been doing throughout his career," Petty
said. "He has won on fast superspeedways, is one of the best
road racers out there and is pretty good on short tracks too.
He has proven he can win. He brings a lot to this team, to
Georgia-Pacific and to Petty Enterprises."

7/23/02

CART congratulates Andretti
Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc. wishes to congratulate its
all-time victory leader Michael Andretti on his Monday
announcement that he will enter, along with veteran team
manager Kim Green, the world of race-team ownership beginning
next season. The 1991 CART FedEx Series champion announced
today that he will be joining with Green to take over
ownership of the Indianapolis-based Team KOOL Green in 2003
although Andretti's own plans for driving, as well as those of
his new team, are still uncertain. CART's all-time leader in
wins (42), most wins in a season (8), most laps led in a
career (6,564) as well as those led in a single season (1,136)
and the holder of the record for the most seasons with at
least one victory (15), Andretti will be making his landmark
300th career Champ Car start this weekend at the Molson Indy
Vancouver - a race he has won three times in his career.
"Michael and the Andretti family have been an integral part of
Champ Car racing history and we intend to do everything that
we can to aid Michael in his new venture," said CART President
and CEO Christopher R. Pook. "We value Michael's presence in
the CART FedEx Championship Series as well as that of Team
KOOL Green and hope that we can continue what has been a very
strong relationship." CART

7/23/02

Andretti sponsor #1 in China
Another reason CART should be in China, though we hear the IRL
might beat them there - U.S. wireless communications giant
Motorola Inc expects to hold onto its number one position in
China's handset market, the world's largest, for the next two
years, a senior executive said on Wednesday. "We've been
holding our position in the last two years and I think we'll
continue to hold on for the next couple of years," said
Timothy Chen, president of Motorola's unit in China, the
firm's second biggest market after the United States. Chen
said Motorola's overall turnover in China, including network
gear, handset and semiconductor sales, would be "roughly flat"
in 2002, but government plans to introduce two new cellular
carriers next year could boost sales in 2003. "If they have
two more operators in 2003, you'll see the revenue start to
pick up," he said in an interview with Reuters. REUTERS

7/23/02

CART stock watch

MPH closed at $7.47 down $0.60 on
volume of 95,800 shares.
$6.85 Bid - $7.79 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $7.46/$8.15
MPH Value Change down 7.43%
DOW Jones down 82.24 or 1.06% on Volume of 2.87 billion
shares. Third straight day of volume in excess of 2 billion shares.
NASDAQ down 53.67 or 4.18%
S&P 500 down 21.32 or 2.6%Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/23/02

Andretti Green Racing
announcement highlights

Owners will be Michael Andretti,
Kim Green and Kevin Savoree

All existing sponsors are very
excited. It's hoped team will stay in tact as is

It has not been determined what
series they will compete in. Totally depends on sponsors
- July and August are key months to get sponsorship agreements
done

Michael will continue to drive, at
least at Indy and hopefully full time if sponsors want him to
drive. He will be very much involved with team, but will
live in Nazareth, PA.

Michael said he hopes Tracy and
Franchitti will stay with team if sponsorship falls into
place. Sponsors are excited and new ones have expressed
interest.

Andretti approached Green at the
end of last season and deal was done at Long Beach for him to
buy into team

Barry will still be financially
involved, but will take a minor back seat role.

Michael - my heart is in CART, I
love the format and hopefully Chris Pook, who is doing some
great things, can make it and it's not too late

Dale Jarrett's car illegalUPDATE Todd Parrott, crew
chief of the #88 Ford Taurus, was fined $20,000 and his team
was also penalized 25 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship
driver points as well as 25 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Championship owner points. Parrott's team was penalized under
Section 12-4-T of the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series rule
book: "Any car that is found to be under the specified height
requirement after the completion of time trials, qualifying
races, or the race." The #88 car was approximately one-eighth
of an inch too low. The minimum height requirement is 51
inches. Michael McSwain, crew chief of the #28 Ford Taurus,
was fined $500 and penalized under Sections 12-4-Q and
20-12-1A: "Any determination by NASCAR Officials that parts
and/or equipment used in the Event do not conform to NASCAR
rules; unapproved jacking bolt." 7/22/02 - After the New England 300, Dale Jarrett's car failed post-race
inspection - it was too low. Expect a penalty to be
handed down.

7/23/02

F1 TV ratings expected to drop
20%
Tim Crow, a director at sponsorship consultancy firm Karen
Earl Limited, warns that Schumacher's premature World
Championship victory will persuade even less people to watch
the remaining six F1 races this season. His title
victory at the French Grand Prix last weekend was watched by
3.5 million British viewers compared to 4.4 million who
watched golf's The Open at Muirfield.

7/23/02

Magny-Cours
circuit upgrades planned
According to this Grand Prix.com article
- Magny Cours officials unveiled plans to completely rebuild
the circuit from the Chateau d'Eau corner down to the finish
line. This is a major undertaking as it will involve a
completely new section of track, the relocation of the cars
parks and the rerouting of an access road beside the track. On
the other hand the new section will increase the crowd
capacity by another 20,000 seats, taking the track capacity to
around 150,000. It will also change the nature of the circuit
which has been rather dull in recent years as overtaking has
become incredibly hard. This is being achieved with a
completely new Chateau d'Eau corner, which will be shorter and
faster than the existing turn. The run from there down to the
last corner will be ditched and a new high-speed left-hander
will be built which will lead the cars down to a 90-degree
right-hander in a new "stadium" area. This will see the cars
braking from 180mph down to 50mph and should create an
overtaking place. There will then be a short burst back to a
right-left chicane, which will also feature the pitlane entry
road. This will feed the track back to the current finish
line.

7/23/02

Andretti to start IRL team but
drive in CARTUPDATE According to this
Indy Star
article, Barry Green will announce today he is selling
his CART team, known as Team Green, to his brother, Kim, and
driver Michael Andretti, sources told The Star on Monday.
Barry Green has been disillusioned with motorsports since
Honda, his engine manufacturer, announced its defection to the
IRL in May. Green also was upset his team had lost an appeal
of this year's Indianapolis 500 outcome. Team Green felt its
driver, Paul Tracy, had won the race when a caution light came
on on lap 199. Helio Castroneves was declared the winner.
Andretti is expected to convert his portion of the team to an
IRL program, although Andretti will continue to drive for Kim
Green in CART. Andretti will drive for his own team in next
year's 500. 7/22/02 - As per this ESPN
article, Michael Andretti will officially become a car
owner and announce his plans to purchase the team he currently
drives for in Championship Auto Racing Teams -- Team KOOL
Green -- and take it to the rival Indy Racing League. A press
conference is scheduled for noon on Tuesday at Barry Green's
shop in Indianapolis and Andretti will reveal the details for
his future as an owner/driver. Neither Andretti nor Green
could be reached for comment Monday. The 39-year-old
second-generation star, CART's all-time winner with 42
triumphs, will field a two-car effort in 2003 that may or may
not include him. But the veteran who has led 398 laps at
Indianapolis without making it to Victory Lane is expected to
compete next May, if nothing else. With funding from American
Honda, which is leaving CART at the end of this season to join
the Indy Racing League and compete against Toyota, Andretti's
team will be the factory Honda effort in the all-oval series.

Visteon meets expectations
The combination of increased production by Ford Motor Co., its
biggest customer, and new business from other sources powered
Visteon Corp. to a $72-million profit in the second quarter,
or 56 cents per share, meeting Wall Street expectations, the
company reported Friday. "We believe we're well positioned for
a difficult time for U.S. business with investors losing
confidence and the auto industry in particular turmoil,"
chairman and chief executive Peter Pestillo said in a
teleconference.

DTM driver warns about oval
racing, too costly
This Autosport
article says - Opel star Manuel Reuter has warned that
including an oval race on the DTM calendar in the future would
be risky, despite a successful day of testing at EuroSpeedway
Lausitz on Monday. Reuter and Mercedes ace Uwe Alzen took
turns in testing on the Turn 1 banking at full oval racing
speed, before completing the rest of the road course lap. The
test was organized by Dunlop, who wanted to see if its DTM
rubber could accept the forces of the oval turns. "It was
definitely good fun and a new experience," said Reuter, who
drove the test car during the evaluation. "But we would have
to think carefully about racing on these types of corners.
Running two cars in perfect conditions was fine, but 20 cars
trying different lines to pass is something else." Reuter
reported that he was approaching Turn 1 at 160mph, and his
minimum speed through the corner was 140mph. "We ran through
the program with no problems," Reuter added. "This is one
step, maybe we need to come back with more cars and try
slipstreaming. The question is, do you go for the risk? You
could easily lose five or six cars if there was a crash."
Welcome to the high cost of oval racing.

7/22/02

Scheckter being lured by CART
teams
As per this ESPN article,
Tomas Scheckter, son of former World Champion Jody Scheckter,
expects to get fired by Eddie Cheever and has received
numerous calls from CART teams to drive for them. In the
article, Scheckter more less makes fun of his slower boss
Eddie by saying - "I was approaching Eddie at a massively
quicker speed than what Eddie was doing. It's not like he gave
me the high or the low line or he let me by at all. He wasn't
hugging low completely. I was high and the problem is when you
are approaching someone, he was going 180 miles an hour and I
was running 202 mph. You can't slow down that quickly. "I
opted for the high line and he didn't give me room for the
high line. I should have known that Eddie would maybe not give
me that room. I would have thought when I saw a Red Bull car,
especially when I was lapping him, that he would give me room,
but he didn't. With Eddie, I should have braked, gone down two
gears and waited behind him, although that would have cost me
six or seven seconds. That's hindsight and I would have
thought he would have given me more room."

7/22/02

Fernandez to visit Denver and
Latino Community
The return of the CART FedEx Championship Series to Denver,
Colorado has brought some excitement to the Mile High City,
especially throughout the area's large Hispanic population,
who will be coming out in droves for the Aug. 30-Sept. 1
weekend to support the Mexican teams and drivers that will be
vying for the Grand Prix of Denver title. Falling under the
column of both 'owner' and 'driver', Adrian Fernandez (#51
Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) will take
some of his time to help build the enthusiasm for the Sept. 1
race by spending a full day in Denver on Tuesday to promote
the event, as well as taking time out to meet race fans both
young and old. Fernandez will start the day by hosting media
track rides of the temporary street circuit, and will then
hold a press luncheon followed by a short presentation on
Grand Prix of Denver's Latino Marketing Initiative. The
seven-time CART race winner will then do an interview for the
Spanish-speaking Univision television network before heading
to Denver's Barnum Recreation Center to give a presentation at
an inner-city summer youth program, where he will also be
signing autographs and meeting the young race fans. This press
luncheon is not open to the public.

7/22/02

Miami City permit signing
On Wednesday, City of Miami Manager, Carlos Gimenez, along
with Grand Prix Americas officials formalize street racing in
downtown Miami by signing the city permit. Championship Auto
Racing Teams (CART) superstar drivers’ Christian Fittipaldi
and Tony Kanaan along with American Le Mans Series’ Johnny
Herbert and Milka Duno will be on hand to help lay the
ceremonial first barrier at the race track. Grand Prix
Americas will speed through the streets of Miami Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, October 4-6. The 1.57-mile street circuit
will reach speeds of more than 180 mph making its way through
Bayfront Park, Biscayne Boulevard and downtown streets. The
world-class racing event will feature CART Fed Ex Championship
Series, American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and Trans-Am Series for
the BFGoodrich Tires Cup Races. This ceremony is not open to
the public.

7/22/02

Button signed by BAR
At a press conference at the Hempel Hotel in London this
afternoon, the British American Racing team announced the news
that Jenson Button will be joining the team for the 2003
season. The Honda powered squad have reached a multi year deal
with the young English driver that will him with the squad
until the end of 2005 with an option for a further two years.
"I'm thrilled to be joining B.A.R. The past few weeks have
been very exciting and I've been flattered by the enormous
attention I've received. I've had a whole range of
opportunities open to me but after careful consideration of
what would be best for my future, B.A.R provided me with an
excellent opportunity to progress and ultimately, I hope, to
achieve my ambition to be World Champion,” “David Richards has
talked me through the long-term strategy for the team in great
detail and I have been very impressed with the strength of the
partnership with Honda. I have no doubt that, together, we can
all look forward to some very exciting times ahead." "I'm
delighted to welcome Jenson to B.A.R. He has an extraordinary
talent which now needs to be nurtured in the right environment
in order for it to flourish,” Richards said. "Over the past 7
months the management team have set out a long-term plan which
is designed to deliver success to B.A.R and our partners. This
won't happen overnight and we have realistic expectations for
the next two seasons. In the current Formula One climate, we
are fortunate to have the stability of long- term funding and
a strong, developing relationship with Honda. Our agreement
with Jenson will enable us to carry that stability through to
our driver line-up and, as we move forward, I have every
confidence that he will play a pivotal role in gelling the
team together."

7/22/02

No side-by-side racing at
Nashville crash fest This
Tennessean
article talks about the IRL crash fest at Nashville on
Friday night. It's apparent that the concrete track does
not develop two grooves, and when you get out of the groove,
it appears to be more slippery than an asphalt track.
Watching the race on Saturday night, it was apparent that the
drivers had no hope of recovery once they got their two
outside wheels above the groove. It was another
expensive night for the IRL teams, and if anyone still thinks
it's cheaper to run in an all-oval series with open wheel
cars, where crashes almost always result in major car damage,
they had better think again. It's one thing to buy
equipment to start a team, and quite another to make major
repairs to that equipment throughout the year from all the
accidents. Just ask Eddie Cheever and AJ Foyt. Any
CART or IRL team trying to decide which series to run next
year might have to figure on double the cost for the IRL vs.
CART's road racing series next year.

7/22/02

No more burnouts in NASCAR?
According to this Winston Salem Journal
article, no more post-race burnouts in NASCAR. That's
apparently the word from NASCAR execs after Greg Biffle's
Busch victory burnout in St. Louis, which led a blown tire,
which in turn brought Biffle's car through the post-race
inspection station too low. NASCAR is telling teams that any
driver who does that again and blows a tire risks having the
win taken away.

7/22/02

Jorge to drive F3 race
CART ladder series (Formula Dodge National Series) driver
Jonatan Jorge will participate in Formula-3 championship in
Turkey. Brazilian driver Jonatan Jorge, who receives support
from F-1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya and Pitbull Energy Drink,
will race in one of the events of the Toshiba-Bridgestone
Formula-3 Championship, in Istanbul, Turkey. The invitation
came from Active Team, one of the most prominent F-3 teams in
Turkey. "I am very happy with the invitation," said Jorge.
"Turkey has been increasingly growing in the international
racing scene. So much so that there is quite an effort being
made to build a track to host a Formula- 1 event in the area."
"I especially want to thank Turkish driver Can Artam, with
whom I raced in the Skip Barber Series this season. He was a
strong competitor here in the USA and the fact that he
appointed me for a place in the Active Team is quite an
honor." "I've never raced a Formula-3 car but both the team
and the Bridgestone technicians have already offered to give
me all the necessary support," said the driver. For one of
Jorge's main supporters - Pitbull Energy Drink - the race in
Turkey represents a good opportunity for marketing exposure,
as the event will be televised to many countries in which the
company has developed its market. Additionally, the F-3 race
will have newspaper, magazine and radio coverage alike. The
event will take place at the Korfez circuit on July 28th

7/22/02

Team Green announcement
Team Green is holding a press conference Tuesday at 1:00 PM.
The announcement was not specific as to what they would say.

7/22/02

BBC to broadcast Rockingham
Britain's fastest ever motor race, the Rockingham 500 CART
event, will be shown on BBC2 Grandstand on Sunday 15th
September, the day after the race is run at Rockingham Motor
Speedway, near Corby in Northamptonshire. Over an hour of
Sunday Grandstand will be allocated to the race, round 15 of
the CART FedEx Championship Series, known as "the fastest
closed circuit racing in the world", acknowledging its
position as one of Britain's premier sporting events of the
year. The BBC coverage will preview the race with footage,
both from previous rounds of the Championship, and with
archive material from last year's Rockingham 500, which was
the fastest motor race ever held in the UK. Brazilian driver
Tony Kanaan posted the fastest lap of the weekend with an
average speed of 215.397mph, covering the 1.5 mile banked oval
circuit in just 24.7 seconds! As last year, viewers will be
treated to the sight of the turbocharged, single-seat racers
howling through Rockingham's four banked corners at speeds of
up to four miles per minute and genuine wheel-to-wheel racing.
The 2001 event saw a thrilling finish when winning driver Gil
de Ferran snatched the lead on the last corner of the last lap
to the cheers of 42,000 fans. As sports writer Brough Scott
wrote after the event: "Even we hardened old hacks in the
press room whooped with excitement." No less than 14 track
cameras, including two 'robocams' mounted on the crash wall
surrounding the track, will ensure that not one millisecond of
the action will be missed, while interviews with key
personalities from America's premier series will give British
viewers an in-depth insight into the spectacular sport. The
BBC coverage will feature race commentary from the experienced
pairing of Leigh Diffey and Jeremy Shaw. "CART and Rockingham
are pledged to make one of the greatest spectacles in British
motor sport as accessible as possible to the widest audience"
said David Grace, Chief Executive of Rockingham Motor
Speedway. "We are delighted that sports fans up and down the
country will be able to enjoy this access to the sport - and
the BBC coverage will augment the existing coverage of the
series on Sky Sports and Eurosport, to bring a great race to
casual viewers and keen enthusiasts alike. They'd better
fasten their seat belts!"

7/22/02

Everyone cheats to win
in NASCAR
This Hartford, CN
article talks about the rampant cheating that goes on
in NASCAR. It says - In NASCAR, everybody's doing it and
they've been doing it forever. It's not cheating unless you
get caught is the philosophy of most. From the local track all
the way to the top level, every crew chief is looking for a
way to skirt the rules or find loopholes. And it's a
well-known fact that within Winston Cup, one way or another,
nearly everybody cheats. "Oh definitely," Bodine said.
"There's no doubt, every car in this garage has something
illegal with it." Imagine that, everyone cheats in
NASCAR. That being the case, one would assume that on
any given weekend, it's not the best driver or team that wins,
it's who cheats the best. Like we have stated
previously, until NASCAR starts to disqualify cars for
cheating, or taking all their points away, cheating will
remain in NASCAR, almost as if the sanctioning body approves
of it. Why else would such insignificant fines be handed
down?

7/22/02

NASCAR considers SAFER Wall for
Dega
NASCAR is considering using energy-absorbing walls at
Talladega Superspeedway, but installation is not likely to
occur before the series races there in October. "There are a
couple issues there, one is the high banking," NASCAR
president Mike Helton said Sunday before the New England 300
at New Hampshire International Speedway. "We need to continue
researching it and looking at it, but I don't know that's its
a possibility to get them in for October." A committee of
NASCAR officials went to Talladega earlier this week to meet
with the developers of the SAFER barriers and discuss the
viability of using them at the 2.66-mile track.

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